Excerpts On Qudsi Hadith

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Bismillahir-Rahman-nir-Raheem

In the Name of Allah The most Gracious The Most Merciful

A hadeeth qudsee is a narration which is attributed to the Prophet (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace), that he narrated words from Allaah which are not part of the Quran. Unlike the Quran, these narrations have to be studied and authenticated before they can be accepted and acted upon. One such narration commonly quoted and attributed to Allaah as His Words is as follows:ما وسعني أرضي ولا سمائي، ووسعني قلب عبدي المؤمن …“Neither My Earth nor My Heavens could contain Me, whilst the heart of My believing servant does contain Me…”

I found this hadeeth once while I was searching the manuscript archives at Umm al-Qura University. I came accross a title listed in one of the indexes on the topic of criticism of some unauthentic hadeeths in al-Bukhaaree and Muslim attributed to Ibn Taymiyyah. So I rushed to get the microfilm and print out a copy, thinking to have found some amazing treasure not known to even the scholars previously. When I began to read it, I found that it was actually a previously known work called “Ahaadeeth al-Qussaas (Hadeeths Used by Storytellers) by Ibn Taymiyyah, which has been printed already, and in fact it was even (for the most part) included in Ibn Taymiyyah’s large Fataawee Collection (18/122-128, 375-385). What’s the connection? Well, the hadeeth qudseein question is actually the first hadeeth mentioned in that book. About it, Ibn Taymiyyah said: This is something they (storytellers) narrate from the Israa’eeliyyaat (narrations of the Jews and Christians). It has no known chain to the Prophet (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace).

Its meaning would be (if it were authentic): His heart contains belief in Me, love of Me, and knowledge of Me. Otherwise, anyone who would claim that Allaah Himself is present inside of the people’s hearts is more of a disbeliever than the Christians, who restricted that (Allaah’s actual presence within the creation) to the Messiah alone. Other scholars of hadeeth, like al-’Iraaqee, as-Sakhaawee, and Al-Albaanee, agreed that there is no known basis for it. See: Silsilat al-Ahaadeeth ad-Dha’eefah (#5103). Az-Zarkashee said, “It is baatil (falsehood), it was fabricated by some malaahidah (severe deviants, or perhaps: athiests).” This was quoted by as-Sakhaawee in al-Maqaasid al-Hasanah (#990).

Six Points of Benefit Related to this Discussion

[1] Allaah does not dwell in or manifest Himself within His creation. He is Lofty and Most High, above His Throne, as He has described Himself in the Quran (20:5).

[2] A hadeeth qudsee must be verified before it is accepted, and there are many of them which are actually unauthentic and even fabricated.

[3] The scholars have always alerted the people to the difference between storytellers and real people of knowledge.

[4] The methodology of storytellers is usually one of carelessness; they are usually not precise in what they narrate. This is especially dangerous in these times because so many storytellers are being promoted as actual scholars, and their baseless and false narrations are commonly accepted by the masses without question.

[5] Narrating a hadeeth qudsee like this (without clarifying its lack of authenticity) is a form of lying upon Allaah, by attributing things to Him that we have no basis for.

[6] The soofees and advocates of the heretic concepts of hulool (believing Allaah to be manifest within His creation) do not cease to spread this narration as some kind of proof in their favor! From the distinguishing signs of the people of innovation is their reliance upon unauthentic and fabricated hadeeths.فمن أظلم ممن افترى على الله كذبا ليضل الناس بغير علم“And who is more oppressive than one who lies upon Allaah to lead people astray, without knowledge?” [6:144] And Allaah knows best.